Be part of what God is doing.
In our newsletter we share prayer points, testimonies and news about how the church and the ministry are growing.
On this page we have gathered the foundation of our faith: what our lives and our church are built on.
Ilon Virta is part of the Nordic Revival Ministerial Association (NRMA) ministry community.
We believe the Bible is the God-breathed and infallible Word of God. The Holy Spirit guided its writers so that their words convey exactly what God wanted to say – through their own personalities and styles.
That is why the Bible is our highest authority in all matters of faith and life. It is God's revelation to all people for all time.
There is one God who has revealed Himself in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The persons are distinct, yet God is one and undivided in essence.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are equally eternal and equal in nature, power and glory.
Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who pre-existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was born of a virgin and became a man – fully God and fully human.
He lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead. He is glorified, and He will come again. Because He is fully God and fully human, He is the perfect mediator between God and people.
God created people in His image, male and female. Through Adam's fall, sin entered the world and affects every person. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil: He gave His life and shed His blood so that we could be restored to fellowship with God.
Salvation cannot be earned by works. It is God's gift, received by grace through faith in Jesus. When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved – and the new life begins to show in what you do.
The Holy Spirit is God, eternal and equal with the Father and the Son. He awakens people to see their sin and turn to God, and He walks alongside believers as comforter, counsellor, helper and strengthener.
We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire – a gift Jesus promised to all believers, received after the new birth. Speaking in tongues and the other manifestations described in Acts chapter 2 belong to this experience. There is one baptism in the Spirit, but we can be filled again and again. Its purpose is to give us power to be witnesses of Jesus.
Jesus, the Head of the Church, established two ordinances for the church: baptism and communion. Baptism by full immersion is a direct command of the Lord. It is not a condition for salvation, but it belongs to every believer. It is an outward sign of an inward work: we identify with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection.
Communion is also a command of Jesus, to be received regularly until His return. Only believers come to the Lord's Table. The bread reminds us of His body, given for us, and the cup of His blood, shed for us. In communion we proclaim the new covenant and the Lord's soon return.
The Bible says that without holiness no one will see the Lord. Sanctification is a work of God's grace that begins at the new birth and continues until salvation is completed at Christ's return.
Jesus promised to return for His church. When He comes, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then the believers who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord. After this, the great tribulation described in Revelation begins.
At its end Jesus will return visibly to the earth with His saints and reign for a thousand years, during which Satan is bound. After the thousand years Satan is released for a short time, ending in his eternal punishment in the lake of fire, while those who never received Jesus during their lifetime are judged before the great white throne. Then the new heaven and the new earth will be revealed, and we will be with the Lord forever.
A person who dies in their sins without receiving Jesus is hopelessly and eternally lost in the lake of fire, with no further opportunity to hear the gospel or repent. The Bible uses the same word “eternal” both for this punishment and for the joy of the saints in the presence of God.
Faith raises questions, and that is a good thing. Join us on Sunday or get in touch with our pastors – we'd love to talk.